As Ethereum closes out a pivotal institutional 12 months, ether.fi CEO and co-founder Mike Silagadze is already waiting for 2026, and he believes the community’s subsequent section will probably be outlined much less by hypothesis and extra by monetary merchandise that really feel acquainted to on a regular basis customers, he instructed CoinDesk in an interview.
Ether.fi is finest recognized for its restaking platform on Ethereum, however has since expanded its focus towards constructing crypto-native neobanking merchandise that mix yield, self-custody and onchain monetary providers. Silagadze will probably be talking at CoinDesk’s Consensus Hong Kong convention in February 2026
Silagadze described 2025 as a turning level for Ethereum, marked by a wave of institutional onboarding. Whereas staking stays restricted inside ETFs, Silagadze mentioned different institutional automobiles, like digital asset treasuries (DATs) have moved quicker.
“A bunch of them have already began deploying into ether.fi,” he mentioned, calling these early adopters “very a lot on the bleeding edge.” DATs he added, “actually had a constructive impression on the value” of ether.
Ether was at its lowest level in 2025 at $1,472 in April, whereas throughout the peak of the DAT development, ether shot as much as $4,832.
Wanting forward, Silagadze mentioned his pleasure for 2026 facilities on the continued maturation of Ethereum’s monetary ecosystem.
“The entire crypto neobank motion… appears to be like a quickly rising development, simply a lot of firms going into area and seeing progress there,” he mentioned.
In Silagadze’s view, neobanks signify one of many clearest paths to sustained adoption, particularly as stablecoins turn out to be extra deeply embedded in international finance. These platforms, he argued, are higher positioned than ETFs to reveal customers to onchain exercise and yield.
In the end, Silagadze mentioned he believes Ethereum’s success in 2026 will rely on its means to ship sensible utility at scale.
“I actually consider that the adoption goes to come back from lots of these neobank sort gamers,” he mentioned, arguing that extra consumer exercise will naturally comply with. Which means specializing in “extra real-world use instances,” from tokenized shares to accessible banking providers, and transferring past what he sees as an overemphasis on gambling-driven purposes.
Learn extra: How Ether.fi’s Mike Silagadze Retained TVL as Restaking Misplaced Its Luster
